The article argues that abnormal atmospheric circulation associated with climate change is making many regions of the world drier, with effects visible particularly across parts of Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
In Iran, it notes that reservoir levels had reached critical conditions amid unprecedented water shortages, while groundwater aquifers and even rivers that had once carried abundant water—such as the Aras River—were also under severe stress.
The situation was not unique to Iran. Reports from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were likewise indicating unprecedented declines in reservoir levels across parts of the western United States. The drought affecting the Colorado River Basin for several years had brought many reservoirs in the basin to their lowest levels since those reservoirs were established. The article also states that the three-year precipitation total in the western United States had fallen to its lowest level since 1895.
As successive years of drought made conditions increasingly critical, water-resources management was rapidly becoming an important element of government policy in many countries. Governments were developing agreements and arrangements both for watersheds contained entirely within their own territories and for basins shared by two or more neighbouring countries, with the aim of protecting water security for affected populations.
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